The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
Conceived as ‘a building by the community, for the community’, the Larick Centre occupies the site of a former industrial shed in the small coastal town of Tayport in Fife. Modest in scale and form, it nonetheless embodies a genuine sense of place and people, its architecture shaped by a rigorous process of consultation and engagement with its users.
It also draws on local precedents of agricultural and industrial buildings, characterised by simple geometries and robust materials, tempered by the sensitive play of light and views to create an inviting setting for a range of uses.
The judges were especially impressed by the architects’ thoughtfulness in how the brief was developed with the community, and how there was a clear and expressive unity between inside and out. Unlike some schemes in this category, the architecture felt all of a piece and a highly considered response to community and public need, both now and in future.
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Designed to be operationally adaptable through moveable walls and flexible services, the new centre proved its versatility by being used as a local NHS vaccination hub during the Covid pandemic. Its sustainability credentials include the retention of a 4,000m2 concrete ground slab from the former industrial shed, keeping 820 tonnes of concrete in situ. The building also employs a range of materials, such as screw-fixed metal corrugated panels, that can be easily disassembled and re-used, emphasising a prevailing ethos of long life, loose fit.
Shortlist
- Southwark Park Pavilion by Bell Phillips Architects
- Lea Fields Crematorium by Haverstock
- The Welcome Building, RHS Garden Bridgewater by Hodder+Partners
- Inverness Justice Centre by Reiach & Hall Architects
Judges
- Kate Cheyne, head of school of arts, design and architecture, De Montfort University
- Kieren Majhail, associate, Karakusevic Carson Architects
- Rob Cook, associate director, id architecture
- Robert Evans, director, Evans Vettori Architects